UNITY — In the last month, 14 deer have been killed on a half-mile stretch of road on Route 139.

After the most recent accident in front of Lenny Cabral’s home, where a pickup truck killed two deer, Cabral and neighbor Ed Picard decided to do something about it.

AVOIDING WILDLIFE

The Maine Department of Transportation offers these tips to avoid deer and moose collisions. The department emphasizes that wildlife collisions can occur at any time, under almost any circumstances and anywhere in Maine.

Time of year

Collisions with deer increase in autumn, peaking in November; moose collisions increase in May and June. But they can happen any time of the year.

Time of day

Moose and deer are most active around dawn and dusk. They also travel at night. Deer eyes refect light from headlights. But because moose are taller, drivers won’t see their eyes refected in the headlights. This makes moose even harder to see in time to avoid a collision. Use high beams whenever possible.

Warning signs mean business

The locations for Maine’s moose and deer crossing signs are chosen based on where there are high concentrations and where collisions are a problem.

Pay attention and keep to the speed limit

Driver distraction and inattention, combined with excess speed, often result in vehicle-wildlife collisions. Always scan the roadside as well as the road. Reducing speed at night greatly improves safety, as does in reduced visibility because of the weather.

Animals live in the woods

Be alert in rural and forested areas. Deer are commonly seen near fields and orchards. Moose are often found near wetlands.

“Herd” the one about the deer crossing the road?

Moose and deer often travel in small groups. If one animal crosses the road, you can bet that there are more animals nearby that may be crossing.

How far ahead can you see?

Do not drive beyond your headlights. If you can’t stop within the distance of your headlight visibility, you could hit something just beyond your viewing area.

What if a crash is unavoidable?

If a crash with an animal is imminent, apply the brakes and steer straight. Let up on the brakes just before impact to allow the front of your vehicle to rise slightly and aim to hit the tail end of the animal. This can reduce the risk of the animal striking the windshield and may increase your chances of missing the animal. Duck down to protect yourself from windshield debris.

This is abbreviated from the Maine Department of Safety website.

Additional Photos

SLOW DOWN: Ed Picard, left, and Lenny Cabral beside a sign that warns motorists that 14 recent collisions with deer have occurred recently along Route 139 near the Unity and Unity Township municipal boundary. “People need to slow down,” Picard said. Cabral added the deer are active because they are hungry. Staff photo by David Leaming

LOOK OUT: A piebald deer — a deer with a genetic variation that produces larges patches of white coloring — and another deer search for food in a field along Route 139 in Unity Township late last week. Less than a mile away, residents have placed a sign and flagging to warn motorists that deer are crossing the road and 14 recent collisions with deer have occurred in the area. Staff photo by David Leaming

The two put up a sign. “DEER CROSSING” is written in big yellow block letters on a piece of plywood attached to wooden pallets in Cabral’s front yard. An orange flag hangs off the sign, which, during the day, is hard to miss.

A perfect storm of unaware motorists, warming temperatures, high speed and a rural area make the stretch of road starting in Unity, about 300 yards from the Unity Plantation boundary, a prime target for vehicle collisions with deer.

During snowy winters — such as this one — herds of deer tend to stay in sheltered areas, finding any sort of scrap food within its home’s general vicinity, according to Kendall Marden, a regional biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Once the snowpack begins to melt, deer expand their search for food, according to Marden.

“The later we get in the winter, the hungrier the deer will be,” he said. “There have been long periods this winter that have caused restrictive conditions for the deer.”

Deer have treated Cabral’s yard, filled with cedar trees and rhododendrons, as their own buffet. Deer tracks dot his yard, and the area beneath the trees is scattered with leftover cedar needles.

Cabral, 67, and his wife, Jane, enjoy watching the deer run through their yard. They’d like to see them stay alive, which is one of the main reasons for the sign.

The other reason for the sign is motorist safety.

Cabral’s seen the aftermath of three accidents involving deer and one near-accident involving a deer and three cars.

“When I saw that near-accident almost happen — I mean, someone can get hurt pretty bad,” he said.

About a week ago, a pickup truck was parked by the road outside Cabral’s house for about an hour after it struck two deer, but it hadn’t killed them. When police arrived, Cabral heard several gunshots before both vehicles drove away.

“The next day I said, â€˜I got to do something,'” Cabral said.

Deer tracks lead across the road in front of the sign in his front yard, visible from his kitchen window.

“Since I put that sign up, traffic has slowed right down,” he said, adding that in just a week, the sign raised the awareness about deer in the area. “I think they’re more aware because of the sign. You can tell the people who’ve hit a deer before, because those are the ones that slow right down.”

There are two peak times of year for deer collisions, Marden said. In fall, when deer change their pattern from feeding to mating, there is a spike in collisions. Deer collisions also rise in the spring because of difficult winters.

“Snow conditions are melting, and it’s expanding the areas where deer can get their food,” he said.

The recent spate of deer collisions on Route 139 has caught the eye of the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department, which works with the Maine Department of Transportation to raise awareness in areas that feature high deer traffic.

“That’s one of the areas that we are concerned with,” Marden said. “Deer collisions happen all over the place all the time, so we can’t be everywhere constantly.”

Because of the state’s woodsy habitat and abundance of nature, rural roads potentially could be flooded with deer warning signs.

Department of Transportation safety manager Duane Brunell said the safety of motorists and the wildlife are of most concern.

“We don’t want to put a sign up everywhere,” Brunell said. “But some signs we put up are temporary so you can inform drivers when there is active movement with deer. Signs may only be active for a month or so.”

While the department looks into several factors about whether deer crossing signs are necessary, they encourage the awareness of residents like Picard and Cabral.

“It is a moving target,” Brunell said. “We welcome public feedback to identify places that we don’t know about.”

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